BN41Albion
Well-known member
- Oct 1, 2017
- 6,827
That is a very good question, and a difficult one. Which I will attempt to answer, although you may not agree with me.
The first thing I would say is that it has nothing to do with trophies won. Most of the teams in the lower divisions have won nothing at all, but that doesn't mean they aren't "proper" clubs. I would argue that a proper club is rooted in its local community, and reflects the character of the town or city in which it is located. I would say that a proper club has soul. It has a support handed down from father to son (or daughter). And since football is a working class sport, proper clubs have a significant working class support base.
I never said that Brighton wasn't a proper club (interesting that you assumed I meant that) and I would consider you to very much to be one. You may not be a working class town, but I have been to your matches and you certainly have many working class supporters. You are rooted in your local community, I imagine support is handed down the generations, but above all you haven't lost your soul.
Perhaps it is a little easier to describe what is a proper club by pointing out clubs that aren't. Manchester United isn't a proper club. Manchester City used to be, but is one no longer. Arsenal isn't one, and neither is Chelsea. Liverpool isn't, but Everton are. Spurs are on the cusp.
It is a very hard thing to define, and I don't know if I have succeeded. And of course you may disagree with everything I have said. But it is the best I can come up with.
OK fair enough, I agree with much of your post there (although I'm not sure about what you say about Man United etc, they still obviously have thousands of local, passionate fans). I'm not sure how many of your fans agree with that in terms of seeing us as a proper club judging by social media, but I recognise it only represents a small section of fans.
Re not a working class town, perhaps overall, but there are plenty of very 'working class' areas in Brighton and Hove!